The Cost of a Military Person-Year: A Method for Computing Savings from Force Reductions

This work presents a new method of estimating the cost of a military person-year that focuses on the actual cost of the retirement benefits that the federal government must provide to military personal, where previously available measures focused only on annual retirement-fund accrual costs. A major implication of this alternative calculus is that truly effective force management requires an increased focus on the cost of personnel.